This kids movie from 2003 is based on an Erich Kästner novel and yet they had four writers adapting it for the screen. The outcome is quite a disappointment as this is a prime example of too many cooks spoiling the broth. The cast is decent: Noethen, Koch, Kling and a very young Frederick Lau (he reunited with Ferkic for "Die Welle") are in here and so is a personal favorite: Piet Klocke. His classroom scene with the boy in the garbage bin was probably the funny highlight of the movie. The movie won many awards, but I cannot really see why. none of the kids were truly good actors and the story was weak too. i cannot say how much they changed from Kästner's original, but the script is definitely not a strength of this film. By the way, it runs for 110 minutes, really long for a children's film. most of these do not even come close to the 100-minute mark, at least these from Germany. In a couple days, I will watch the 1950s version, so make sure to check out my review there and see if I deem it more worth watching than this one here. I am fairly certain it will not have these woeful rap music sequences on so many occasions. Probably not even on one. Apart from Lau, one or two of the kids actors still have acting careers, but most of them went back to normal lives quickly.

The best thing about this film was maybe the soundtrack, at least the main tune that also plays in the very end. However, the kids rapping was just horrible and the other singing parts (mostly choir) were not too memorable either. The two groups of kids fighting was nothing special and I never felt particularly like cheering for one side. It's a bit of a shame Vilsmaier is not acting anymore either. She had decent talent and screen presence, maybe the most from the younger actors here. Initially, I thought Sebastian Koch was evil, but I was wrong in the end. When he climbed up to the kids, he seemed somewhat like a villain. Also, I have to say I did not really think the title fits the film well. The Flying Classroom is mentioned so late into the movie that you keep asking yourself for over an hour why is this film named like that. I doubt, it gets mentioned equally late in Kästner's novel. Anyway, there are many great kids movies from Germany out tight now, many of them based on literature. This one is not among them. Not recommended.

Since I'm a huge Erich Kästner fan, I have the three movies of "das fliegende Klassenzimmer" that were ever done. The script of the first one (1954) was even written by Kästner himself. So it's the closest to the book, of course. There was just this part were they run over the ice and slip all the time. It's supposed to be dramatic, but it's just stupid and disturbs...

The second one took place in Bamberg in 73 and the idea of setting it into summertime was really good. They changed the snowball fight into a 'normal' fight, which was really good made. But that Ulli jumped out of a window of the third floor (I think it was the third...) with an umbrella was unrealistic and over-dramatic, too... but I never new which one I like more...

Then I heard that they wanna make a new one, and I wondered, how they wanna set it into this time. There are hardly any boys boarding schools in Germany anymore, but the idea of putting the play into the Thomaner school was genius! (By the way: in this version it's winter again and the snowball fight is a snowball fight^^) And that they reeranged the play into some kind of a rap-musical in the future-space was good, too! Because with it, they could not only create the past difficulties of Justus (Ulrich Noethen) and Nichtraucher (Sebastian Koch) with the DDR, but it also appealed more with the new generation.

The acting was awesome, but I have to say that Hauke Diekamp (Jonathan Trotz) was the most incredible. Not only his acting was very convincing, but it was the first time he acted at all, what is not to believe after watching this movie.

All in all, the newest "fliegende Klassenzimmer" is an awesome movie, which everyone should watch once in his life (not only Kästner fans!)

I went into this movie knowing it was good. But it was better! It is a movie for children as well as their parents.

Everything in it is brilliant. Let's start with the acting. Sebastian Koch as the Nichtraucher (non-smoker) and Ulrich Noethen as Iustus are perfect in their roles. Especially Sebastian Koch is very convincing. The child-actors do a very good job and the rest of the cast is also perfect, not to mention the very funny Piet Klocke as Professor Kreuzkamm.

The screenplay is very good, the writers succeeded in eliminating all clichés. They did not simply turn Erich Kästners bestseller into a very good movie, the matter was also updated to fit in our time. Germany's unification is now part of the storyline of two characters in the movie.

Camera and direction is above average and give the movie a good look.

I enjoyed the movie, and so will you. Go and see it.